Hoarding Hong Kong's trillions

When I was the Secretary of the Clover Lodge owners' association, the executive committee decided to replace the rusty water pipes, install security lights to deter burglars, and pave the driveway which was badly in need of repair. The association had reserves of over $600,000 at that time and the cost of the three essential, long overdue projects would have come to around $300,000. Yet, we faced severe opposition by some house owners and were accused of plundering the assets which "had to be saved for a catastrophic event". I was later told that this was typical of house owners' associations in Hong Kong: reserves would be hoarded at the expense of much needed repairs and improvements.

I was reminded of this recently after to Hong Kong's Financial Secretary John Tsang announced that the budget surplus for this year is over HK$70 billion. As Jake van der Kamp, financial columnist at the SCMP has pointed out, the Hong Kong government has reserves of HK$1.3 trillion, which is invested and therefore increasing all the time. By any standard, Hong Kong, with only 7 million residents, is sitting pretty.

Yet, being a bureaucrat not answerable to the people, Tsang is miserly with cash. Citing the need for prudence in these "volatile" times, he's planning to hoard the money. The outcry for the money, which after all belongs to the people of Hong Kong, to be spent in innovative ways has been ignored. The bureaucrats always know what is best for us.

In a city full of Mercedes and BMWs, of flats that sell for the highest square foot rates in the world, we have very poor people among us, many of them elderly, who live in cage homes or scavenge in the streets for scraps. They deserve a better life.

Seen in Sai Kung

While the needy are deprived of a decent living, money is squandered on unnecessary projects. One example in Sai Kung is the covering of the stream between the police station and Fuk Man Street. The stream, sometimes a bit smelly during high tide but in no way a nuisance, is being covered by concrete slabs in what is a multimillion dollar, completely unnecessary project. I looked for an explanation and found a small sign (only in Chinese in an officially bilingual city) which showed a green patch with flowers on the concrete. While the starting and anticipated completion dates are stated, I saw no mention of the cost. In all the concretification that goes on in Hong Kong (slopes, paths, streams, hillsides), there is no sign which indicates the cost of each project. This should be mandatory so that we could raise an outcry on how our tax dollars are being wasted.

The construction site between the police station and Fuk Man Street.

On a happier note, I recently walked up to the High island Reservoir in Sai Kung Country Park, and came upon this breathtaking view. Now, this is one project which has benefited Hong Kong.